Politics This Morning: Morneau and Barton to testify on McKinsey and Infrastructure Bank

Good Thursday morning, There are some big names on the political agenda today, including a former finance minister, a former campaign chair, and several ministers who will field questions from committees. We’ll also get a look at a new report on the biggest risks to Canada’s financial system, as judged by the Bank of Canada. The bank will release its Financial System Review at 10 a.m. An hour later, Governor TIFF MACKLEM and Senior Deputy Governor CAROLYN ROGERS will hold a press conference to take questions about its contents. The Financial System Review outlines “the main vulnerabilities and risks to the stability of Canada’s financial system,” as well as efforts by the bank and other authorities to mitigate those risks, according to a press release from the BoC. Morneau to (virtually) testify Maybe you really can polish an … infrastructure bank. We’ll find out today, as key players in the launch of the Canada Infrastructure Bank appear for a grilling before the House Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities Committee today. Ex-finance minister BILL MORNEAU will join DOMINIC BARTON, the former global managing director of McKinsey and Company, to testify before the committee as it studies how Barton’s old firm sparked the creation of the much-maligned Canada Infrastructure Bank. JANICE FUKAKUSA, the CIB’s inaugural board chair, and BRUNO GUILMETTE, the bank’s former chief investment officer, will also testify at the meeting. It starts at 11 a.m., and you can watch it here. Fukakusa is the only one scheduled to show up in person. The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer scrutinized the Canada Infrastructure Bank two years ago, and the results weren’t encouraging—namely, that the bank wasn’t even close to achieving its objectives. What’s the cabinet up to? Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY has departed South Korea for the Philippines, where she arrives today to begin a three-day visit. Joly will meet with her counterpart, ENRIQUE MANALO, and others in Manila to promote Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE and Trade Minister MARY NG are in Washington, D.C., today for a two-day visit to plug a greater role for Canada in manufacturing semiconductors. Housing Minister AHMED HUSSEN will appear before the House Public Accounts Committee at 3:30 p.m., as it digs into an auditor general’s report on chronic homelessness. Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen will testify before a House committee digging into an auditor general report on the government's efforts to reduce homelessness. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia That report, issued in 2022, essentially found that the government didn’t know whether or not its efforts to fight homelessness were working, and that there was “minimal” accountability for meeting the Liberals’ proclaimed targets for reducing homelessness. Defence Minister ANITA ANAND will participate in a convocation for students of the Royal Military College in Kingston today between 1 and 3 p.m. Gender Equality Minister MARCI IEN will field questions from the House Status of Women Committee today as it reviews her department’s spending plans under the main estimates. Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI will appear before the Senate Legal Affairs Committee this morning to defend relevant portions of the government’s budget implementation bill. Finally, this evening Mental Health and Addictions Minister CAROLYN BENNETT will deliver a keynote speech at a mental health symposium in Toronto organized by the non-profit Reena. In Parliament Today is an opposition day in the House of Commons, and it belongs to the Conservatives. In committee Canada’s chief electoral officer, STÉPHANE PERRAULT, and MICHEL CORMIER, the executive director of the Leaders’ Debates Commission, will testify before the Procedure and House Affairs Committee at 11 a.m. as part of its study of relevant portions of the main estimates. At noon, the committee will switch gears, and call in TAUSHA MICHAUD and WALIED SOLIMAN as part of its study of foreign election interference. Michaud served as former Conservative leader ERIN O’TOOLE’s chief of staff. Soliman served as his campaign chair when he tried to beat JUSTIN TRUDEAU in the 2021 federal election. At 11:10 a.m., the House Science and Research Committee will hear from lobby groups for Canada’s French and English universities as part of its study on Canada’s graduate research scholarships and post-grad fellowships. Canadian academics recently held a protest to call attention to what some argued is inadequate funding for those positions. Auditor General KAREN HOGAN will testify before the House Heritage Committee at 3:30 p.m. to take questions about her report on connectivity in rural and remote areas. Auditor General Karen Hogan will field questions about her report on rural internet access today. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade You can read that report here. In short, Hogan’s office found that the government was making progress on improving rural internet service, but had a long way still to go. What else is happening today? Parliamentary Budget Officer YVES GIROUX will release a new report at 9 a.m. this morning entitled, “a distributional analysis of the clean fuel regulations.” The government’s clean fuel regulations require that producers of gasoline and diesel fuel reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their fuels over time, including by purchasing credits. In case you missed it Four years on, the House of Commons has finally struck an “ad hoc committee” of Parliamentarians to review the dismissal of two scientists from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg in 2019 under shadowy circumstances. Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND announced the creation of the committee yesterday. It will include Liberal IQRA KHALID, Conservative JOHN WILLIAMSON, Bloc MP RENÉ VILLEMURE, and New Democrat HEATHER MCPHERSON. The committee will also include a panel of three “arbiters”—two former Supreme Court justices and a former Federal Court of Appeal judge—that will have the power to decide whether or how the committee can make public portions of the heavily redacted documents they will be studying. The government has tried desperately to block the publication of details about the circumstances under which the two researchers—XIANGGUO QIU and KEDING CHENG—were fired. IAIN STEWART, then the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, even received a formal reprimand from the House of Commons for refusing to produce documents ordered by the opposition-majority House in 2021. Send your news tips to pmazereeuw@hilltimes.com. The Hill Times

Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Morneau and Barton to testify on McKinsey and Infrastructure Bank

Plus, top O’Toole operatives testify on foreign interference.

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Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Morneau and Barton to testify on McKinsey and Infrastructure Bank

Plus, top O’Toole operatives testify on foreign interference.

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